Holocaust Article

This article was interesting because I've personally never heard of Chambon before reading this. It talks about how a French teacher wants to bring back the "rescuers" since studying a holocaust child victim was to harsh.  The Chambon went against what the Nazis strived to do.  They fed, sheltered, clothed, made false passports and created an underground railroad to Switzerland to help them escape their own harsh reality.  The Chambon had nearly been forgotten because nobody talked about the good people who came out of the Holocaust.  It also makes a reference to Schindler's List because he too tried to save Jews but in real life Holocaust, the Nazis wouldn't help save Jews. They are really striving to get this story back into the curriculum because it is one that will soon be forgotten because it is already not talked about much.  Overall, it was an interesting article to read and it tied in with the movie Schindler's List because he too tried to help save Jews like the Chambon did. 

Did communism threaten America's internal security after World War II?

After World War II, the question if Communism was threatening America was tossed in the air. I don't think that it was harming our internal security but it was definitely an issue. Outside of the US, places like China were dealing with Communism taking over their country and we tried to stop it so it wouldn't affect us internally. As Fried called it, we were having a "nightmare in red." We had our first and fifth amendments suspended while we were investigated for Communists everywhere. Including places like Hollywood, labor unions, school and public libraries. To help look for this we had HUAC and Taft-Harley Act to help keep Communist out of the US. So it wasn't that it Communism didn't play a threat at all to America, just not to it's internal security, we had that under control. So we had to help other countries to keep us safe by using the Truman Doctrine and Marshall plan. Haynes and Kiehr argued that codes were used to send messages to the Soviet Union but that still didn't really in my opinion affect our internal security. Overall, I don't think that our internal security was threatened, we just needed to check things out to make sure we were safe from a Communist takeover and then continue to do things to keep us safe, but we were never really "threatened."

I would define threatened as at a risk or being in a situation where it is more likely for something to go bad then good so we weren't in a threatened position.

The Atomic Bombs: Were They Justified?

I agree with the one opinion that the bomb we dropped on Nagasaki was unjust because we already made out statement that the war was done.  The first bomb dropped in Hiroshima, that was just because it was are way saying we are done and you are defenseless; we needed to end this war on top and not at the bottom.  Some say that it wasn't fair that we dropped the bombs in an area that wasn't Anglo-American but I believe that it was fair.  They were the reason we entered the war after they attacked Pearl Harbor, so that's why its fair.  The only thing that makes me feel like both the bombs were unjustified was the fact that it killed so many more people on top of the people already lost during the war.  But I guess we just had to go out with a boom.

March 23,1917
French soldier
Berlin, 14:03

Dear Journal,

It’s getting pretty bad out here, we’re freezing and I’m stuck out here diggin’ trenches. We switched to sandbags because we saw that that’s what the British and German have been a using and it seems more helpful from keeping the trenches from cavin’ right on in and buildin’ over then those darn hurdles we French have been a using.

The darn rain and mud ain’t helpin’ much with my job either. I keep getting’ stuck and I’ve had to been pulled out a few times…speaking of being pulled out, one of my buddies I got sent o’er here with cuz we got the same birthday, he was found stuck in the mud with only his helmet and his eyebrows a showing. The darn ground sucked him right on under the worst thing I ever have saw.

I’m thinking things are going to settle down soon, the rains been a lightening up a little but the good Lord is still spittin’ at us every now and then.

Guess I best get back to trench diggin’ before it gets dark and we switch up the shifts, nice talking to you journal.

Pierre

Letter Home #2

July 17, 1916
Ypres, 16:32

Dearest Mother Mae,

Things are going alright over here, things just keeping wetter and muddier and I ain’t sure what to think of it anymore. We drag through mud all day which tires me out even more mamma I thought I was in good shape but haulin’ ‘round all this extra weight ain’t no fun. My feet are always hurtin’ and blisterin’ right on up. You’re just lucky you ain’t gotta wash all my muddy clothes…
I really miss bein’ home and havin’ those giant suppers every Sunday and family ain’t sounded all that bad. The mud is just awful mamma I just wanna come right on home and help you out again, a young boy don’t belong in this kind of mess. And mamma I lost my right foot. I was standing in those darn trenches way too long and well they are just went completely numb and turned all blue and stuff nothin’ real pretty. And then some disease sunk in gangrene or something like that I don’t remember what they darn old doctor guy said, I was too darn drunk.
I hope they just send me right on home soon, I’m not much help and I’m sorta afraid to just lay around all day. I’m a weak target anything could get me even those darn rats around here. I just don’t want to die mamma missing a foot is bad enough.
Don’t worry though momma I’m alright this happens all the time around here. It’s the rainiest time ever and everybody’s got this darn trench foot, I have to go sock picking off of dead bodies so others don’t have to get what I got.
Can’t wait to see your smiling face mamma and eat a good roast.
All my love,
Ernie, your sweet boy

Letter Home #1

January 20, 1917
17:37, Bulls Trench

My Dearest Mary,

I’m turning in for the night, it’s just getting colder and colder out here, I could go for a nice warm cup of your homemade apple cider right ‘bout now. I’ve never been stuck in anything quite this cold. So far I’m alright, no injuries or nothin’ but a few of my buddies aren’t doin’ so well. Ron he had to have his leg cut off from that darn frost bite, the worst sound I’ve ever heard a drunken man yellin’. I’m so thirsty, water is scarce cuz of the cold and all. One minute you got water and the next you got yourself a giant chunk of ice. You could never imagine anything quite this cold, even when that darn heater of ours went out this is way colder, but don’t worry I’m taken good care of myself.
Tomorrow we’re moving on to a new trench, Sergeant says its got heating but it’s gonna cost us. We might get sick cuz you can’t have no chimney and such so smoke will stay in but we’d all rather cough a little then freeze to death you know? Probably not but trust me it will be better. Extra clothes would be nice but we ain’t got enough fund to get everybody clothes so only the top guys get them, I guess I’ll have to work harder for them.
I don’t want you to worry ‘bout me I’m doin’ just fine. I’ll be home soon I hope once things warm up and settle on down. This is kinda pointless letter but I had to let you know I’m doing alright but I’ll right again real soon to you don’t you worry darlin’.

With best of love to my sweet darling wife,
Lloyd

Reaction Essay

Being a soldier during WWI would have been absolutely brutal. They had to put up with diseases, wounds and Mother Nature. Plus, they weren’t ever properly taken care of and supplied with enough things to help them prevent all of those things. I could never imagine anything like what they had to go through it is so appalling to me.

Having to deal with living in trenches that are dug below the ground and standing in muddy water anywhere from ankle to thigh high would be horrible. Some soldiers got trench feet and had to have there feet amputated and others got pneumonia. Plus, the mud and rain added an extra 34lbs to a person. That is lot for someone who is slaving away all day fighting and already carrying enough luggage. It’s amazing how they trucked through the mud during one of the rainiest time periods ever where only 18 days there weren’t rain and 11 of them below zero. That’s when frostbite starting kicking in leading to even more amputations. I couldn’t imagine just drinking some rum and chop there goes my leg; that would be the worst thing EVER!

I was disgusted at the fact that rats would sneak up on wounded soldiers and attack and eat their faces off because the soldiers couldn’t defend themselves because they couldn’t move. That was absolutely horrible. And then lice on top of that and having no way to cure it would not be ideal to me, it makes my head itch and my stomach turn just thinking about it.

Then when I read about how some countries came up with little gas bullets that made my head hurt. Suffocating from horrid air or not being able to catch my breath would be the worst way to die I think. But even worse then that would be shell-shock, completely going insane and being terrified of walking on the street and remembering ever little detail of war. I couldn’t deal with that and I have no idea how soldiers deal with it even today.

I can’t believe what it was like to be a soldier and makes me sick to even read about it. I’m not sure what I would do if I ever had to be put in any of those situations. They really had to battle there way through things to survive. I also couldn’t believe that 30% of people who were wounded and died and only less than 1% of people died of sickness. That is amazing that we had no medical attention for wounds and that people die after suffering so much pain. Honestly, I could never handle being a soldier.

LO #26 - Extra Credit

Turner's thesis states that not only the west but the national character had been shaped by the westward movement. Through the struggle to overcome the hazards of the western wilderness had transformed Europeans into tough, inventive, and self-reliant Americans. Many historians have critisized he's thesis and I find that David Weber's is the most valid. He believes that the frontier didn't define the edge of civilizatoin but marked the boundary between diverse cultures. Not that we completely changed people, it is the Europeans who come here with ideas, moving westward didn't change them to "self-reliant" Americans it just helped the same Europeans interact and pick up a little from different cultures.

MLK JR. extra credit

This article was interessting to read. It literally made me feel like they were talking to me. Everybody knows him by "I have a dream...," but like me, we can't go any farther and say what his dream was really about. Today people are quoting him in presidential debates and that's not right, those are his words and need to be remembered by him, me are voting for you not Martin Luther King JR. It also made me think about how he never really was liked and we put him on this pedestal like he is this great popular person but he was really looked down upon. I enjoyed reading this article, we really should remember that his speech was about segregation and not take parts of his speech away from that like the article says.

Was Reconstruction a "Splendid Failure"?

I think that Eric Foner makes a better argument only because he has facts to back him up and not just opinions and what could have happened like LaWanda Cox. Foner says that the Reconstruction was a "Splendid Failure" because it offered African Americans in the South a temporary vision of a free society. It gave African Americans freedoms that they never had and they could get involved in society if they wanted to and they received economic rights.
Even though Foner made a better argument because he had facts to back him up I still think that LaWanda Cox had a better argument to read. Because she didn't have facts it was interesting to see how she thinks things should have been so it kept you hooked more then just reading things that we know happened.
~The reconstruction was a "Splendid Failure" because even though it didn't turn out how we hoped it would, during the times that things were going smooth it was splendid. The country was back together and blacks had their rights and then things went downhill.

Is the Civil War importance over exaggerated???

Its hard to really say that the Civil War has been exaggerated by the historians because we weren't there to see what was going on. In a way I think that it was a little over exaggerated. They make it seem like this huge "life changing" war. Some historians say that the war was this huge war that had to happen or the USA was going to crumble apart and never be what people thought it was going to be. These historians seem to exaggerate the whole deal and made it seem a lot more important then it might have been. Then there are those historians who say that "hey those other historians have really over exaggerated this issue." I think that these historians got away from what was really important during the war and the facts. So I guess i would have to agree with the historians that believe the Civil War has been over exaggerated because even though it was a war that helped bring the USA back together it doesn't have to be flaunted and made into such a big deal as some historians have made it. Many other events just as important have happened but none of them have been expressed so "wowly" by these same historians.

Was the Mexican War an Exercise in American Imperialism?

I have to agree with Ramon Eduardo Ruiz. He says that when conquering Mexico's northern territories, the US waged an aggressive war against Mexico and Mexico never recovered from it. To him, Manifest Destiny showed the racism towards African and Mexican Americans who stood in the way of the White's land. Other factors made Americans think expansion. They were led to believe that the Union gained in stability as the number of states multiplies so they wanted to gain Texas and fight the Mexicans for their land. Ruiz also makes the beset argument because he points out flaws that Graebner had and how it wasn't all Polk's fault that we went to war for more land and states.

Did the Election of 1828 Represent a Democratic Revolt of the People?

I think that the elections did represent a Democratic Revolt of the People, so i agree with Sean Wilentz argument. The campaign "produced a valediction on the faction-ridden jumble of the Era of Bad Feelings." Jackson did abnormal things in his campaign that other candidates normally would do. He had newspapers in several states publish articles about him which helped to make the people more involved. The whole election was a contest of different views in politics, since they all said they were republicans; it was a "great contest". The election contained a lot of new ideas. Jackson had successful techniques in campaigning which made them more "appealing" to vote for. The people didn't exactly revolt, but we did change our ways at viewing things. Even though i agree with Sean Wilentz i think McCormick makes very good points as well. He states that a "new democracy, ignorant, impulsive, irrational" had entered the arena of politics in the Jackson era and has become an unchallenged fact. I think this statement is sort of goes along with the YES statements by Sean Wilentz because it says yes there was a "change" and the people aren't going to argue about it.

Founding Fathers...

The Founding Fathers were Democratic Reformers. They believed that they were creating a better government for the people. Even though they tried to make a government that was for the people i agree with Howard Zinn that they might of been it for more of a personal gain. Like Mr. Smith said Zinn did a good job at pursuing me to believe that the Founding Fathers weren't everything that they were said to be like what Roche thought. I think that the Founding Fathers cared too much about themselves and what they would get out of it instead of the country as a whole. (I think this sort of goes along with our RED/BLUE game we did in class too because when we voted a second time people cared to much about there own grade instead of what everybody would have gotten.) They did have a few intentions like if you didn't own property you couldn't vote for the constitution, and most people who would of been against the constitution didn't own any land, so they were smart with that intention. They do deserve some credit though for having the time to come up with the Constitution and having it be successful so that everyone agreed on it. Once again, i believe that Zinn's argument was stronger then Roche's and Zinn's was more interesting to read, making it more persuasive.

Federalist Paper #51 - E.C.

Federalist Paper #51 talks about how they thought it was necessary to have a balanced
government. Checks and Balances was created to keep things in order so that one branch couldn't overpower another branch. Also, they created the House of Representatives and the Senate so that common people had a say too. They tried to keep it so that a dictatorship wouldn't happen and so that things wouldn't get our of control. A strong, good government was important so that it would protect the liberties of the people.

This Federalist Paper is also an important paper because it kept our country in line so that one part couldn't overpower another. If that were to happen then the whole purpose of trying to make a working government would be completely pointless. I like the fact that they came up with the House of Representatives and the Senate so that the common people had a say too because they are just as equal as the more "wealthy" men in the US. Also, the whole idea of Checks and Balances is a good way to "check" on each other so that we don't overpower ourselves.

Federalist Paper #10

The Federalist Paper #10 was about factions. Factions were a huge issue that was mentioned while the Constitution was being written. Madison thought that the Constitution was good to deal the factions. He thought that people tended to group together with people who have similar interests as them and that those groups with the most people would immediately have factions that would overpower other groups. The Constitution formed a republic so that people had to vote for one person to represent them and this solved the overpowering situations

I think that this Federalist Paper is an important paper. It made it so that we don't have groups of people overpowering us and voting and getting what they want. If that was the case the middle class and poorer people would never get an equal say because i think the rich would group up and maybe even pay people to stick with their groups decision. The whole idea of having a republic is also a very good solution to the whole mess. It keeps it so that everybody and state is equally represented.

Columbus Day...?

The US shouldn't continue to celebrate Columbus Day. First off, he didn't even discover America it had already been discovered by natives and he had no clue where he even was he thought he was in the Indies so he called the people Indians. Columbus was an evil person too, he would cut of the hands of Native Americans who couldn't find any gold because he was greedy and wanted things his way.

It is good that we celebrate a day that represents all of the good things like civilization and western expantion but we should call it something else. Columbus doesn't deserve to have a day that is named after him. Nobody even really celebrates it anymore, its just a day where we don't get mail and some people don't have to work because it is a "holiday". Plus, there are Columbus Day shopping sales...but it really shouldn't be named Columbus Day because he didn't really help America in any way shape or form.

Where I'd Live...

If i had to choose on where to live in the colonies i would probably choose New England. It has such great diversity like America today and i would love to live in the city. Also, it would be easier to receive information on what is going on and to receive goods. I would also choose to live in New England over the Middle and Southern colonies because it is always changing so that it can keep up with the "modern" things that are going on.
It wouldn't be horrible to the live in the Middle colonies but it obviously isn't my first choice. I would have to live in the city so i know what's going on and so that i was surrounded by different people.
I know for a fact though that i wouldn't want to live in the Southern colonies. I wouldn't be able to live on a plantation and do tons of work. And if i had enough money to buy slaves to do the work for me, i wouldn't. It would be to hard to watch my neighbors abuse African Americans too.